Future Shock
by HoneyFlower15
Summary: While Team Natsu is away Lucy stays behind to earn some rent money with the help of Mirajane. Alone the way she finds a child that keeps calling her mama and looks a lot like Natsu. What does this mean for her and her future love life? Nalu


Lucy gave out a heavy sigh from her seat at the bar. So far Team Natsu had completed what was supposed to be a simple mission, just capture the evil illusionist that was kidnapping young girls in a nearby town. However like every mission they went on, even the easiest of them all, somehow their team ended up destroying half the city and most of the reward money went to pay the damages. "This month's rent..." she felt like crying at the thought of paying her landlord. She had maybe half of this month's rent money to give but her rent was due in three days and she didn't know how she was going to pay for it. "I'm so screwed." she let her head hit the bar table and hoped it would swallow her and get her out of this nightmare. It didn't help that with the thoughts of her rent coming up quickly she could hear Natsu and Gray fighting again. She hoped Erza hit them extra hard today for being so stupid when she is so miserable.

"Lucy, are you alright?" Mira came up to her, handing her a plate full of freshly made food and a nice smoothie to go with it. "It seems everyone is in high spirits today, but you."

Lucy looked over at her team and saw Natsu and Gray getting yelled at by Erza and Wendy was with the two cats watching in the background and softly trying to remind Erza not to kill them.

"Yeah, well, that's because unlike them I don't have time to goof off. My rent is due in three days and I only have half the amount needed." she chewed her food slowly, savoring the taste because for all she knew it could be the last warm meal she had again. She didn't want to be kicked out and become homeless, or worst go lives at the girls dormitory at Fairy Hill. She swore that old lady's spirit was still haunting her and she didn't want to dress up in stupid costumes again.

"So how come you don't just go on another job?" Mira suggested, pointing over to the request board that was currently filled with many jobs just waiting to be done.

Lucy just shook her head. "Normally I would but every time we do go on a job most of the reward money goes back to the town because it got destroyed by Natsu and the others." she pouted, taking a long sip of her smoothie. She hoped if she sipped it long enough she would think of some sort of plan.

"Then why not just go on a job by yourself?" Mira suggested with a king smile. "I have the perfect job in mind and it's really easy and it pays well too."

This peaked Lucy's interest. "Really? How much?"

Mira smiled again. "It pays 50,000 Jewels and if I'm doing my math right you should have just enough to pay your rent with that." she was right. Lucy did the math in her head as well and with the half she had plus the 50,000 jewels she would get with this job means she could have a little extra spending money for shopping.

"I'll take it." Lucy grinned, jumping in her seat to show how ready she was.

"Great," Mira walked behind the bar and pulled out two food bags. "Then let's get going." she headed for the door.

"Huh?" Lucy stared blankly at the bag before running after Mira. "Hold it." she caught the girl before she could leave the Guild. "Um...I'm a little confused. What exactly is this job?" she wanted to know what she was going to do before she messed it up.

"You're going to help me shop for new supplies and food for the Guild." Mira replied and continued walking, Lucy following her still a little confused.

"And how exactly does this job pay 50,000 jewels?" she asked, hoping her friend wasn't just pitying her and giving her a fake job to give her money that she needed. She would feel so guilty if Mira really did that. Sure she needed money but she didn't want to ask her friends to give her the money.

Mira gave a light laugh at her question. "I know it doesn't seem like much but shopping for the Guild is much harder than you think. First you have to realize how much food you'll need and then find them at places that are cheap enough to buy from them. Then you needed to take in account all the fights that we have that we need to restock up on many supplies for when the Guild gets broken. Of course then you meet the other members in town who always have lists of their own and want you to buy them things such as food or drinks or other things that they may want to have. Actually this job can become quite stressful and I'm always looking for help to do the shopping but no one ever wants to go because they think it's boring." she let out a soft sigh with that last part and Lucy just smiled.

"Then count on me," she gripped her bag tightly and grinned. I'll help you with the shopping today and whenever else you need to go as well." she owed Mira for always helping her with her problems so now it's her time to return the favor.

"Thank you, Lucy. I really appreciate this." Mira smiled and they headed for the door to get out and get the shopping done.

"Lucy!" but before the two girls could even make it out of the Guild they were stopped by Natsu and Happy running up to them with wide grins on their faces. "We found another job to do!" he showed her the paper that was in his hand with Happy flying around it. "It's pays 700,000 jewels so let's go!" he cheered and so did Happy.

"It would seem a mage has been appearing and disappearing in different spots all over and many people have gone missing as well." Erza walked over with her giant cart of supplies and explained what the mission was.

"Nobody knows a thing about this guy so we figured we found out before he we beat him and collected our reward." Gray added in, his clothes were off as usual as he walked around in only his underwear.

"Um...Gray?" Wendy called to him, her eyes looking at the floor. "Y-You're clothes." she pointed out and he jumped in surprise, quickly dressing himself before Erza hit him.

"Uh...?" Lucy bit her lip, not really sure how she was going to tell them. She knew her team would be disappointed that she wouldn't be going but she also knew they would get over it. They would understand her problems for her rent and happily let her go off on the simple mission by herself. It was Natsu that she was worried about because she knew he would be upset. Happy would be mad at her as well but not as much as Natsu would be. She didn't like seeing him upset and usually when she tells him that she's busy he's gets all depressed and makes her feel so guilty. "Actually I already accepted another job to do, you know, by myself." Natsu and Happy stared at her for a moment before they both curled into a fetal position and pouted, looking extremely depressed.

"Oh my," Mira only laughed at them, finding their antics amusing but Lucy was already starting to feel guilty.

"Come on, don't be like that." she went over to their sides and tried to cheer them up. "I only accepted this because my rent is due in three days and the mission you picked out for us will take at least two weeks." she hoped they would understand but they were still sulking. "Besides you can still go on the mission and it's not like you'll be all alone." she looked over at the rest of their team and gave them a silent plea to help her.

Gray gave a small nod and walked towards Natsu, making him stand up on his own two feet. "Come on, man. You heard Lucy, she already has a job to do so there's no point in getting so upset." he tried dragging the fire mage by his scarf but Natsu planted his feet firmly on the ground and pulled back against the ice mage. "Let's go! There's no reason to make such a big deal out of something like this!" Gray added, trying harder to pull him so they could leave for the job.

"It is a big deal!" Natsu cried, glaring at Gray. "Lucy is our teammates and as a team we're supposed to do job requests!" he growled.

"Um..." Juvia saw this was her chance to get closer to her beloved Gray and jumped for it. "If it would be alright, Juvia would like to join up with you on this mission." she flashed a shy smile at Gray, hoping he would finally accept her and not look at her love rival Lucy.

Gray gave Juvia a once over and shrugged. "It's fine with me." unknown to him, Juvia was ready to scream in pure joy at his words. She was going on a mission with her beloved Gray and that meant the possibility of getting rescued by him, healing his wounds, and having him fall in love with her.

"I am fine with it as well." Erza added and Wendy nodded. She knew Juvia was nice and she didn't want to cause any trouble by saying something that could annoy Natsu more so she kept her mouth shut.

"Well I'm not." Natsu huffed, crossing his arms and glaring at all his friends. "Lucy and I are partners so that means we're supposed to do everything together." he whined out and he would keep whining until Lucy agreed to come with them on this mission.

"Natsu," Erza stepped forward and hit the growling boy on the head, making him lose conscious and proceed to drag him out of their Guild. "Sorry about the trouble Lucy."

The blonde shook her head. "No, it's no problem. If anything I should be the one apologizing. I'm sorry if I didn't tell you but Mira just offered me the job a little while ago."

"What's the job?" Wendy asked, curious as to what Lucy would be doing.

"She has agreed to help me with the shopping." Mira stepped forward and explained what the job was.

"I see, so you're going to help Mira with buying all the supplies for the Guild?" Gray questioned and Lucy nodded. "Good luck. From what I've heard from Elfman it can get pretty scary." he whispered to her and suddenly Lucy felt a shiver run down her spine. Someone was watching her.

"Love Rival!" she saw Juvia hiding behind a pillar and glaring at her.

"T-Thanks for the warning." she quickly stepped away before Juvia decided to drown her.

"Shall we get going?" Mira suggested and Lucy nodded.

"I'll see you guys later." she waved goodbye and left the Guild with Mira. "I'm really sorry about that. I didn't think he would get that upset." Lucy quickly apologized once they were far enough away so that her team couldn't hear them.

"It's fine, I completely understand," Mira suddenly had a wide grin on her face and her eyes seemed to be sparkling. "After all who could get mad at Natsu for acting like that when he's so in love with you? I would be a monster if I got upset over something like that."

Lucy sighed and rolled her eyes. Mira was always saying that Natsu liked her and the first time she did believe it but it turned out to be a total misunderstanding and from then on she refused to listen to the woman's talks on romance. "Yeah, I don't think that's the reason why." in fact she was sure it wasn't. Natsu didn't seem like the type to suddenly confess his love and she had a feeling that even if he did like her, or anyone, he would be too dense to figure out what the thing he was feeling was. He'd probably think something was wrong with him and run to the doctor's to heal him. "By the way he was acting you would think I was a mother dealing with her kid that didn't want to be left alone with a babysitter." she rolled her eyes again at her words and it was a little sad to say but Natsu did sometimes remind her of a child that didn't want to be separated from their mother.

"Oh, I wouldn't be so sure." Mira was determined to prove that the pink-haired boy liked her and Lucy didn't feel like arguing.

"Shouldn't we start the shopping? You said it was a lot, right?" She just had to get her thoughts off romance and back onto the shopping.

"Yes, you're right." Mira let out a defeated sigh and pulled out a roll of paper from her bag. "Shall we get started?" Lucy nodded, saying she was ready but she cried out in surprise the minute Mira unrolled the paper and she saw it roll all the way back to the Guild. "Well let's get going. Hopefully we can have all this done before sunset." Mira walked causally along the street, acting like she had a normal list in her hands and not a giant roll of paper that was following behind.

Lucy could only follow closely behind, trying not to step on this list and tried her best to help Mira get everything that was on it. Only it seemed ten times harder than fighting bad guys. Mira would find stores that had what they needed and they would either not lower the price for her or there would be tons of people in the stores and all fighting for the items that they needed. Lucy suggested going to a different store but Mira always went in and tried to grab what she needed at the price that she wanted. Of course most people fought with her but the white-haired woman did not back down easily. She would make them give her what she wanted by either screaming, glaring, or worse got into Satan Soul mode and not only scaring everyone in the store but Lucy as well. The blonde could only stand outside of the store in total shock and fear as she watched Mira do battle with the store and everyone in it. _"Now I know why Gray said that Elfman said this would be scary. Because it is!" _she held the bag close to her chest and prayed to never get on Mira's bad side. Ever.

* * *

><p>Hours passed and the sun was just starting to set when they were finally finished shopping. All the stores were closing up and Lucy was grateful. It meant this nightmare was over and she could go home and try to forget all the scary things that she had witnessed. "I must say that this went surprisingly well." Mira commented and smiled at the blonde that was trying to hold her tears of fear back.<p>

"Y-You really think so?" Lucy didn't know how any of that went well but she didn't want to argue and anger the woman walking next to her.

"Yes," Mira nodded and continued on smiling. "When I go with Elfman it usually takes me much longer to get all the supplies I need but today I finished early." Lucy had a feeling that Elfman was probably too scared to try and stop his sister when she goes on a rampage and that's why they always took long. She on the other hand was so scared that she practically pushed Mira away once she saw she was back to normal and out of the shop.

"Yeah well..." Lucy just gave a shy grin and continued on walking. "I'm glad I could help." she was suddenly regretting her words from earlier to always help with the shopping. She didn't want to see something so scary ever again.

Mira merely giggled at her. "Once we get back to the Guild I will pay you and you'll have enough money to pay your rent." she reminded her and Lucy suddenly brightened up.

With all the scary things that happened today she had completely forgotten what the reason was for her coming with Mira to do the shopping. "I want to thank you again for this Mira. Without you I-!" both girls stopped when they saw a little boy walking in the middle of the roads. He appeared to have a cat walking next to him and both looked lost and from what they could hear he was crying.

"Poor boy, he must be lost." Mira frowned as she watched the young boy walk all around as if searching for something familiar to him in hopes to find his family. "It's so sad!" she felt like crying herself for the poor child.

Lucy watched the boy as well and felt something tighten in her chest. She knew what it was like to be all alone like that and only want to have one of your parents hold you and tell you that everything will be alright. With the loss of her mother and her father's cold behavior towards her she was always feeling like that when she still lived at him.

Once she saw the boy sit down on the edge of the town's fountain she ran over to him, leaving the bags with Mira. "Hey there," she approached as softly as she could so she wouldn't surprise him or look like some weirdo that was trying to kidnap him. "Is something wrong? You know you can talk to me if you need help?" she sat down next to the crying down boy, putting a comforting hand on his shaking back. She noticed he wore a red shirt with a picture of a dragon on it, blue pants that had some spots covered in dirt and wore out red sneakers. One other item she noticed was that he had a white scarf with red threading hanging around his neck. The design of it almost perfectly matched the scarf that Natsu always wore but it also had its own special touch to it.

The boy looked up at her with wide brown eyes that seemed to grow in size when they stared at her. "M...M...M..."

"Hmm?" Lucy held a gentle look on her face as the small boy tried speaking. "Yes?" What is it?" The boy bite his lower lip and his eyes started to water all over again, making Lucy panic. "Hey now, there's no reason to cry. I'm here now and I'll help you." she reassured him before he started crying all over again.

"M..." Suddenly the boy jumped to his feet and his two little arms were wrapped around her. "Mama!" he cried out, burying his face in her chest to cry.

"Mama?" Lucy froze in shock at the word.

"Mama!" Mira gasped when she heard the word as well and came running up to where Lucy was and the little crying boy. "Um...Lucy? Do you know this little boy?" Mira asked, complete shock written all over her face as she looked at the boy and Lucy.

Lucy's whole body felt like it was as stiff as a board. "No. I've never seen him before so I don't know why he's calling me his mother."

"Oh, I see." both girls were eyes were as wide as plates and their bodies were stiff and shaking some. They were confused and surprised by the boy's words so much they weren't sure what they were supposed to do.

"Mama!" suddenly the cat next to him grew wings and fly on top of Lucy's head. "Mama, we finally found you." it cried out, surprising both girls even more.

"An Exceed?" Mira looked at the cat that still had its wings out.

"Looks like it." Lucy commented, trying to calm down both the crying boy and the crying cat. "Um...there, there. It' alright now." Lucy rubbed the boy's back and reached up to scratch the cat's ear.

The boy pulled his face away to stare at her with wide eyes that were still full of tears. "Mama, I was really scared. Lucky and I suddenly ended up here and I couldn't find you and Papa and..." Lucy quickly wiped his tears away with her handkerchief and smiled.

"It's alright now," she said gently, running her hand through the boy's hair. She noticed even in the dark it was a bright red that was still very short and almost spiky. "You don't have to be scared anymore." she pulled him closer to her, hugging the crying boy and saying soft reassuring words to him. Words that her mother used to say to her when she was still alive.

"Lucy," Mira called to her, holding both bags. "Why don't we go back to the Guild. I'm sure Master will be able to help."

"You're right." Lucy nodded and scooped the boy in her arms, carrying him all the way back to their Guild. She didn't understand who this boy was or why he thought she was his mother but she would deal with all that later. For now she wanted to get to their Master and hope that he could do something to help the little boy.

* * *

><p>They arrived at the Guild with ease, making sure no one saw them or else it could cause problems for Lucy and the boy. Mira opened the back door for them and put the bags down in the kitchen, she would put them all away later. "Let's hope not to many people are still here." Mira was the first to go out, sticking her head out and saw that there was no one around. "Ok, let's go." she waved Lucy over, telling her to follow.<p>

"Mira-nee! Lucy!" both girls froze when they heard a familiar voice calling out to them. "What are you guys doing?" they looked up and paled when they saw Lisanna, Elfman, Cana, and Levy all staring down at them from the second floor. Makarov was standing on top of the railing and he was staring down at Lucy, making both girls panic.

"Um...what are you all doing up there?" Mira quickly got in front of Lucy, in hopes to block the child and cat that she was holding.

"No one was around so Master invited us all up to his room for a card game." Levy answered and before long they all jumped down and headed towards the two girls.

"Lucy, what is that in your arms?" Makarov came forward, staring directly up at the blonde and the child that she was holding. "Where did you get that boy?"

"Seriously," Elfman came around to look at the boy and put a hand on Lucy's shoulder, a wide grin on his face. "I never thought you were one to steal a kid." he joked, laughing loudly but it only made Lucy sigh. Actually if she was in there position she would think the same thing.

"That's not funny." Lucy glared at the laughing man and wished that he would just shut up before someone heard him and came running. She did not want the entire Guild to think she was come kind of child abductor.

Elfman continued grinning, wiping away tears from his eyes. "Relax, I was only-Ow!" he yelped in pain when the boy in Lucy's arms suddenly bite his hand and the cat on top of her head scratched the side of his face.

"Don't be mean to our Mama!" both boys cried, glaring at Elfman and holding tighter to Lucy.

It was quiet in the Guild for a few moments before the boy's words finally sunk in. "Mama!"

"Lucy, what did he just say?" Levy felt her cheeks heat up when she thought of her best friend having a child already.

"Is he really your son?" Lisanna asked, both her cheeks juts as red as Levy's.

"So you're not as inexperience as I thought." Cana said, giving Lucy a sneaking grin.

"To think she's sharing such a big secret with us. It is truly man!" Elfman cried, throwing his hands up in the air in joy and tears streaming down his face.

"Now everyone calm down." Mira called to them all before they started spreading rumors around.

"Boy," Makarov walked over to Lucy and stared up at the boys he was holding in her arms. "Can you tell us yours and your friend's names?"

The boy nodded and grinned brightly. "I'm Ryu and this is Lucky!" he pointed up to his cat that in the light everyone could see was blue had white paws, the end of its tail was white as well and right in between his ears was a patch of fur that was pure white.

"I see," Makarov nodded. "Can you also tell us your birthday?"

Ryu nodded. "I was born July 24th X793 and so was Lucky ! That makes the two of us the same age!" he happily added.

"Aye!" Lucky agreed, grinning widely.

"Oh, and how old are you?" Mira asked, finding Ryu extremely cute.

"Five!" both boy and cat happily replied.

"Wait a minute," Cana stopped to think about his birth date. "If you think about the time of his birth is pretty close."

"What do you mean?" Lisanna asked, not really understanding what Cana was trying to say.

Cana however ignored her question and looked over at the blonde with a serious gaze. "Lucy if this child is really yours then he'll be born within a decade from now."

"Wha...?" Lucy felt her heart sped up and her face felt like it was going to melt. "So you're saying that I'm going to be a mom soon?"

"Looks like it." Cana added. "By his birth date tells us that he'll be born in nine years from now so I suggest you start studying the baby books." she gave a cheeky grin, trying to lighten the mood if only a little but it wasn't working.

"Oh boy..." Lucy felt like her whole world was spinning and she couldn't do a thing to stop it.

"Mama," only the sound of Ryu's small voice finally stopper her world from spinning and got her complete attention back on him. Was this what they called motherly instincts. "I'm hungry." he whined, a small frown on his face. "Me too!" Lucky added, flying in front of her face.

Lucy felt her heart start to swoon for the little boy. He was just too cute to ignore. "Alright, I'll get you guys something to eat." she said, bringing them over to the bar.

"How about I make you all something to eat?" Mira suggested, going behind the bar to make them their dinner.

"Thanks Mira." Lucy gave her thanks, setting Ryu down in the seat next to her.

"Yeah, thanks auntie!" Ryu replied next and Mira froze in her spot, her hands were shaking and her eyes were wide as they stared at Ryu.

"Mira-nee?" Lisanna and Elfman looked over at their old sibling and wondered what was wrong with her. Did being called auntie bother her that much? Maybe she thought Ryu was calling her old? They just hoped they wouldn't witness her going ballistic on a child.

"You...you...you..." Mira slowly turned around making them all worry that for a moment she was going to transform into her Satan Soul mode. "You are so cute!" she jumped over, grabbing Ryu and bringing him into a bone crushing hug.

Everyone nearly fell over at her antics and Lucy had to get Cana and Elfman to help her free Ryu from the iron grip Mira had on him. "Just you wait, I'll make you an incredible meal." she practically skipped to the kitchen, leaving them all to sigh with relief.

"She's scary." Ryu held onto his mother in fright and Lucky was right with him.

Lucy couldn't help but chuckle at them. "Don't worry, you get used to Mira." she told them both, rubbing both their heads and calming them down instantly. "She's very nice and a great cook."

"I guess," Ryu stayed in his mother's lap, he didn't want to be caught in another death hug. "But mama is the best!" he flashed her a bright grin that made her and everyone in the Guild fall over at how sweet and cute he was.

"He is totally adorable!" Levy cried.

"I know. I can't wait to have a son of my own!" Lisanna added and both girls started to daydream about their future children.

Elfman froze when he heard that his little sister wanted to have children. "That is not man!"

"This is so weird," Cana took a seat and started drinking from one of the new bottles that Mira bought for her. "I can't drink like this." despite her words she was chugging the whole bottle down.

"Here you are my dear. A nice big plate of pasta just for you and your mama." Mira came out with three giant plates full of pasta that made the bar table shake when she placed it down.

Lucy nearly fell over at the size of it. "Um...Mira don't you think this is a little too much?" she asked weakly, trying not to hurts the girl's feelings or upset her.

"Yay! Food!" however Ryu and Lucky seemed to think otherwise and started to devour the giant plate of food, surprising everyone.

"Never mind." Lucy was just going to keep her mouth shut when it comes to food around these two.

"Look at the kid go," Elfman watched in amazement as the little five year old ate the giant plate of food that was placed in front of him. "He eats like Natsu."

"Yeah, you're right." Lisanna agreed with her brother as they all watch Ryu. "You think Natsu babysits him and Ryu picked up his eating habits?"

"It's possible. I mean Gray and a few of the other guys used to eat normally but then Natsu came and after a while they started eating like him too." Levy added in.

Cana sighed at the three. "You guys are so slow." they all turned around to look at her, confusion in their eyes. "Isn't it obvious?" they shook their heads and she sighed again. "That kid is Natsu and Lucy's son."

"What!" They all gasped in utter shock and turned to find a beet red Lucy and a smiling Mira.

"I knew it!" Mira threw her hands up in the air in joy and spun around. "I knew you two would end up together."

"Is it true?" Levy ran over and took the seat next to Lucy. "Ryu is your father Natsu?" She and everyone else just had to know.

Ryu answered with a wide grin and a mouth full of food. "Yep. That's papa's name."

At his reply everyone screamed and fell over in shock. They only ones still standing were Lucy and Mira and that was because Lucy was froze stiff from shock and Mira was too busy jumping in joy behind the bar. "I knew it! I knew it!" she danced happily, shouting at the top of her lungs.

"N-Nastu and Lucy...they...they're parents?" Levy couldn't even begin to comprehend any of the information she was being told. It all seemed to surreal to her.

"This is truly a man's moment!" Elfman cried out, both hands balled into fists and tears still streaming down his face.

"W-Who would have thought." Lisanna added in, not really sure what to think of all of this. She wasn't sure what to make of all of this. On one hand she was happy for the two of them for having a family but on another hand she was a little disappointed that it wasn't her future child. She knows what she said as child may have sounded like all a big joke but there was a part of her that cared for Natsu that way. _"Oh well, it was obvious even in Edolas that those two shared a special bond and this child is a result of that bond. I gotta say I'm happy for them." _

"I was right," Mira jumped over the bar and hugged Lucy and Ryu and Lucky in a giant grip. "I just knew you two were meant to be together." she happily cried, releasing them from her grip and continued to dance around.

"Mama, she still scares me." Ryu said once they were released.

Lucy nodded, patting the young boy on his head to calm him down. "I know, son. Me too." it took her a moment to realized that she had just called him son. It was strange, she had only known the boy for a little while but he didn't feel like a stranger to her. She felt a strong connection to him, a sort of need or want to protect him and see that he has a good life and keeps smiling. _"Is this what they call a mother's love?" _she smiled at the thought and wondered if this is how her mother felt when she was holding her.

"This is such a great day," Mira wiped away a few stray tears with her handkerchief before skipping back over to Ryu, who clenched his mother's shirt in fear of being hugged again. "So tell us Ryu, do you have any other brothers or sisters? Or anything else you may want to tell us about your family?" her eyes were sparkling, waiting for the knowledge she so desired.

Ryu, still a little unsure about Mira, kept himself close to his mother just in case he was attacked again. "No one other than Lucky really. But mama's belly is big now because papa says that she's gonna give me a little sister."

Lucy felt her cheeks burn at the new piece of information she was just told. "A little sister!" Mira screamed in pure happiness and spun around the Guild with tears of joy streaming down her face as she kept cheering, scaring almost everyone. Makarov was the only one who was keeping a straight face and everyone else was wondering how to escape without her noticing.

"I say this calls for a drink." Cana grabbed a full bottle from behind the bar, knowing one way to deal with this whole big mess. "I'll try and find out how the little brat ended up here. Meanwhile I think the rest of you should try and keep anymore people from finding out. It could be real trouble if they do." and with that said she sat down at one of the tables in the Guild and went to work, using her magic to figure out exactly how and why Ryu and Lucky were in their time period.

"I agree with Cana," Makarov took the unoccupied seat next to Lucy and her son. "I think it's best that Ryu and Lucky being here should remain a secret. We don't know why they're here and for all we know they were forced into this time period by someone who is after their lives. So for the sake of not only their future, but our own, I want all of you to swear to me that you won't tell a soul about what has just taken place." he gave them all serious looks which they returned without any fear. They knew the dangers and knew what he was saying could be true. They would keep the secret even if it killed them. "Good. Since you all seem to understand we just to decide who will stay with the boy."

"Grandpa what are you talking about?" Ryu asked, finishing off his meal and grasping his mother's shirt in his small hands. "I'm staying with mama."

"Aye sir!" Lucky cried out next, flying back on top of Lucy's head. "Mama is our mama so we wanna stay with her."

Makarov smiled at the child. "I know you wanna stay with Lucy but I meant who will stay with you just in case someone comes to attack you or your mother." he explained and Ryu relaxed some.

"Ryu, do you mind if I ask you something?" Lucy looked down at the boy in her lap. There has been a question in her head since she first met him and she wanted to ask it before she forgot. "Do you have any idea on how you got here? Do you remember anything about what happened to you that made you come into our time?" she asked, hoping he could give them some sort of hint.

"Not really," Ryu frowned. "All I remember was one minute I was in the park with you and papa, playing fire tag and then some weird man appeared," everyone sweat dropped when he said "fire tag" and none of them even wanted to know how you play or what it exactly was. They just knew it involved fire and it probably caused a lot of damage. "Papa yelled at the man and tried to attack him but the man disappeared in a bright light. The next thing I knew was that I was in the middle of town and you or papa weren't around." he frowned deepened at the memory and Lucy hugged him close to her chest. The need to protect him seemed to grow even stronger at his words.

"A bright light?" Mira appeared next to them after she finally calmed down and stopped dancing. "Why does that sound so familiar?" she walked behind the bar and pulled out a giant book that made a loud thud when it hit the table's surface.

"What are you looking for?" Levy asked, watching the barmaid flip through the giant book.

"Just what is this?" Lucy asked, staring at the giant book in awe. She's never seen a book like that so big before.

"This book is the Guild's log book," Makarov jumped up to the bar's table, sitting down on it and crossing his arms. "Every mission that has ever been taken has been recorded in this very book."

"Every mission?" Lucy gasped in awe. "Wait, so you mean that this book has the very first mission the guild has ever accepted in it?"

Makarov nodded. "Exactly." Lucy was stunned. "This book has been around since Fairy Tail was first created and it has been passed down from Master to Master. Every job a Fairy Tail Mage has ever taken is in this book."

"So what does this big book have to do with what Ryu said?" Lucy asked.

"Found it," Mira grinned, pulling out a request paper. "This is the mission that Natsu and his team went on earlier today. The request was to catch a man that mystery appears and disappears in a bright light."

Levy's mind started swarming with ideas. "So you think this guy that Natsu and his team went after is the same one that kidnapped Ryu?"

"It is possible," Makarov crossed both his arms and legs on the bar table, his eye closed as he thought over the information being said. "If I remember correctly there is a spell that allows a wizard to transport through time. Although this spell became forbidden after it was discovered that it left ripples in the time space continuum." Opening his eyes, he sent a serious look at Ryu and Lucy and the rest of his children. "If this man really is using that forbidden spell then we need to be prepared for him to strike at any moment." he added, making sure they understood the situation completely and how serious it was.

"He's right," Cana spoke up for the first time in a while. "My cards are telling me the time ripple has been affected and if this keeps it could spell disaster for both our past and future." she said solemnly, not bothering with the half full drink by her side as she stared at the cards in her hands.

Everyone in the Guild tensed up at her words. If that was true then they need to send Ryu and Lucky back before the time zone was completely destroyed and they wouldn't have a past or future. They had to work fast.

"You are all worrying over nothing," they all gasped in shock when Gajeel suddenly appeared at the door, his arms crossed over his chest as he sent them all a sly grin. "It doesn't matter what sort of magic this guy uses, I can still beat him." he quickly added, walking towards him. Lily flying right behind him, looking just as serious as usual. "So that means you don't gotta worry about nothin' Bunny-Girl. You're little brat won't be in danger for long." his words shocked everyone.

Lucy tightened her hold on Ryu and gulped. "How did you...?" she was cut before she could finish.

"I can smell it," Gajeel explained, leaning against the bar and continued to grin. "I smelt the kid the moment he landed in our time and I finally traced him back here. He smells just like you and that idiot Dragneel."

"He does?" Lisanna asked, confused at what Gajeel was saying.

Ryu nodded. "That's what papa always says," he grinned wildly. "That's why he always finds me whenever Lucky and I go off on an adventure."

"An adventure?" Lucy sighed. She was seeing her future and it involved her raising a little Natsu that would probably give her the same headache that she gets everyday when the Natsu of this time period acts childish.

"So what should we do?" Elfman asked, getting himself ready for anything. If it was a fight then he would fight and he would win.

"I think for now it's best if Lucy took Ryu home. He and Lucky look pretty tired." Makarov sent a gentle smile over to the small child in Lucy's arms that was trying his hardest to keep his eyes open.

Lucy smiled and stood up, adjusting Ryu in her arms so his head was resting on her shoulder. Lucky came down and curled around her neck, resting on her other shoulder. "Let's get you two to bed." she whispered softly, running one hand through her future son's soft hair.

"Ok, mama." both boys yawned out, having no complaints about going to sleep.

"I'll take them back to my place." she told her friends and headed for the doors.

"I'll come with you." Levy came running up next to her. "If that guy shows up you won't be able to fight as freely so I'll be like your bodyguard." she gave her best friend a bright smile, telling her that she would do her best to protect them.

Lucy smiled back, grateful for having the blue-haired girl as a friend. "Thank you, Levy."

"I'm coming too," Gajeel surprised them, standing directly behind the two girls and making them jump. "If this guy does show up then I want a piece of him." his grin made shivers run down Lucy's spin. She keeps forgetting how scary this man really is.

"S-Shall we go." she gulped again, walking out the Guild's door and praying that they could somehow lose Gajeel along the way. _"I just hope he doesn't suddenly decide to come into my house all the time like the others." _she really hoped he wouldn't become another one of her uninvited houseguests.

As the three left the rest of their Guild members watched them go with worry shining in their eyes.

"I hope they'll be alright." Lisanna said, sitting down at the bar and looking to her older sister for some kind of reassurance.

"I'm sure they will," Elfman came and sat down next to his little sister. "After all Gajeel is with them and that guy is strong. I doubt just anyone can beat him. Even some time travelling wizard."

"I agree," Mira set down drinks for her siblings. "Besides Ryu is Lucy's son and I know she won't let anything happen to him." she said all this with a knowing smile on her face.

* * *

><p><em>"This is so weird." <em>Lucy had to fight the urge to flee. They were walking down the streets to her house, all of her neighbors were just getting home and each one of them kept asking her about Ryu and wondering if he was her nephew or actual son. Of course he was her real son but she couldn't tell them that he came from the future. They would think she went crazy and ship her off to some mental institution. Of course it didn't help that Gajeel kept scaring her neighbors away and making them gossip about her walking around with a young boy while accompanied by a scary looking man. She could already she her reputation as a good young lady going down the drain. She was just lucky that Levy was with them and did her best at explaining that Lucy was just babysitting the boy and they were just escorting her back home. _"I just wanna go home!" _she wanted to cry when she glanced up at Gajeel and saw the scary looking frown he had on his face. How Levy could act so carefree around the iron man was a total mystery to her.

"Mama, where are we going?" Ryu and Lucky had woken up during all the commotion and were currently looking at everything with wide joyous eyes. He seemed really excited.

"We're going to my apartment." she wondered where she was living in the future. It was obvious that Ryu didn't recognize this path so she couldn't be living in her apartment in his time so she wanted to know where she was living in the future. She could picture herself in a nice size house, with a big yard for the children to play in, and her sitting by her desk writing her novels while her husband went out and did requests that the Guild got. _"I'm not going to be ablt to face Natsu after this." _her imagination got the better of her and now she was imaging her future with Natsu and it was causing her face to burn. Once her teammate got back she would not be able to face him for a long while.

"So what should we do when we get to your house, Lu-Chan?" Levy questioned, trying to come up with some sort of battle strategy. "If you like I can sleep over just in case this guy tries to sneak in during the middle of the night."

Lucy nodded. "That sounds good to me," she didn't mind Levy staying over but she wondered about Gajeel. "What about you? Do you want to stay over as well?" she asked weakly, hoping he would say no. It would be so weird having him over.

Gajeel scoffed, acting like her question had insulted his pride. "Like hell I would. I'll keep watch on the roof. No way am I staying in some bunny house all night," he made it sound like her house was some sort of hell on earth and she would have been happy that he declined to stay over if he hadn't insulted her so badly. "Besides," his next sentence caught her off guard. "I got better things to do with my life then listen to Dragneel yell at me for going into your house."

"Why would he do that?" Lucy was confused. Why would Natsu yell at Gajeel for going into her house? They were all friends now and he had no problems with him being in their Guild so why would he be so upset for him coming into her house.

Gajeel scoffed again. "You really don't understand anything do you?" he sent her a mock glare and she frowned.

"Well excuse me if I can't understand everything that comes out of Natsu's mouth. It's not like everything he says makes senses anyway." she pouted, not liking how he was making her feel so stupid suddenly.

At this Gajeel let out a low chuckle. "I guess that's true. That boy is pretty dense. I doubt he even realizes that you don't understand."

"Understand what?" Lucy asked and at this point even Levy wanted to know.

"Does it really matter?" they all gasped when a new voice was heard. "You're all going to be defeated by me soon enough so there really is no need to understand anything this fool tells you." A man wearing a black cloak was in front of them, a wide grin on his face. He wore a red eye glass over his left eye, brown hair pulled back into a low ponytail and gloves over his hands.

"Who are you?" Lucy asked, tightening her hold on Ryu and taking a step back.

"Who I am doesn't matter," he walked towards them, a wide grin plastered on his face. "Now hand me the child and I will let your friends live."

Gajeel grinned, his arm already transformed into iron. "I'd like to see a weakling like you beat me." he charged at the enemy, ready to smash his iron arm into his face but he never got the chance. His body was suddenly frozen, he couldn't move a single muscle. "What the hell...?" he gasped out, even talking took effort.

"I can't move either." Even Lily was frozen in the air, his wings were frozen stiff yet he was still floating. His eyes were wide from shock as he tried to move but it was pointless, he had no control over his body.

"Ahh!" Levy screamed in shock. "My body!" she was just like Gajeel, frozen stiff. "Why can't I move?"

"What's going on?" Lucy strangely could move her body and took once careful step back. She didn't see the wizard in front of her even cast a spell so she didn't understand why her Guild mates were frozen.

"Mama, that's him." Ryu clenched her shirt in fear and Lucky was hiding behind her back. "That's the man that attacked papa with the bright light." he told her and Lucy gasped. So this was the man her team went after and the man that kidnapped her future son.

"Such an observant child," he stepped forward and Lucy took another step back, her nerves screaming at her to get far away. "My name is Toki, and you're right. I am the same one that attacked you and your father. I had hoped I would be able to distract him long enough so that I could finish my plans but it seemed that some unfortunate accidents happened." he gave Lucy a sly grin and raised his hand out. "Now give me the child and I give you my word that I won't do anything to your friends."

Lucy glared, her teeth biting her lower lip with enough pressure to make it bleed. "You really think I'll just hand him over to you?" she wanted to laugh at this man. As if she would really hand over Ryu. Future son or not, there was no way she was going to let this man walk away free. "Just what do you want with him?"

Toki continued to grin. "I want his power," his words were low but they held an strong power to them, a power that was making Lucy's body become still with fear and anger. "This boy has a lot of power inside of him. Exactly like his father, he will grow up to be a powerful wizard but I plan on taking his power for myself." Lucy glared, her eyes shining with rage at every word he spoke. How dare he speak about her son that way. "Of course he is still young so I guess I'll have to wait a few years before I take the power out of him, but that'll give me just enough time to train him to become my servant."

Lucy couldn't take it anymore. Her whole body was shaking, not from fear but in anger. She hated this man. She hated how he wanted to use her future son as if he was an object. "I won't let you!" she cried, grabbing her keys and readied herself for the fight. "If you think I'll let you touch one hair on him you are dead wrong!" Even if it killed her she would not let him touch Ryu. "Now open, Gate of the Lion, Loki!"

"I am here, princess." Loki appeared with a smirk, his hands shoved in his pockets and eyes staying focused on Toki. "I heard everything that has happened. While I would have preferred for our future son to come I can't just sit back and do nothing. Ryu is a part of you and I made a promise to always protect you."

"So you'll fight me?" Toki asked, almost as if he was amused.

Loki nodded. "I'll fight anyone who tries to harm my master."

Ryu blinked a few times before he finally recognized who Loki was. "It's mama's perverted servant!" he cried, a wide smile on his face. "Aye Sir! It's Mr. Pervy Servant." Lucky added in.

Loki felt his anger rise. "I am not her servant and I'm not a pervert!" he cried at the child and cat, suddenly having a strong dislike for the two little boys.

"Ryu! That's so rude." Lucy added, frowning down at her son.

Ryu pouted. "But mama that's what papa always says."

"He does?" Lucy sweat dropped at his words. _"Why am I not surprised that Natsu would say that." _she gave an uncomfortable laugh and wondered what else Natsu told their future son that he was too young to hear.

"So it was Natsu?" Lucy gasped when Loki's aura suddenly darken. "I'll have to be sure to have a talk with him once he gets back." he had an evil smile on his face that made Lucy and Levy shiver at the thought of what the Lion spirit would do to the pink-haired boy.

"L-Loki...?" Lucy called out, hoping to try and stop her angered spirit from killing her teammate. "Please don't do anything to rash."

"Oh, don't worry Lucy. I'm just going to have a nice little chat with my dear friend, Natsu." he flashed her an evil grin that had Lucy crying in fear and Levy was right with her. Both girls suddenly felt very sorry for the young Dragon-Slayer.

"Are you done talking?" Toki was still standing in the exact same spot, waiting for Loki to strike. "Because I do have other things to do with my time." he took out a pocket watch and grinned. "Speaking of which, they should be arriving any moment now."

"Who should?" Lucy asked, not knowing if whoever was arriving were friends or foe.

"Lucy!" they all gasped when a group of people was running their way at full speed.

"It's Natsu and the others." Levy said with joy.

Gajeel scoffed, "About damn time."

"What are they doing back so soon?" Lucy wondered, her gut telling her that something was wrong. Her team went on a two week mission and it hadn't even been a full day since they left. Something was wrong, very wrong.

"I meet up with them when I was searching for the boy. I told them I had a feeling the little brat was with you and it seems they followed me." Toki never once took his gaze off of Lucy, his eyes staring into her widen brown orbs. "Everything is going just as I planned."

Lucy gasped, suddenly seeing his plan. "Natsu! Do come any closer!" she was too late.

A bright light appeared around Team Natsu and Loki, causing them all to scream at the blinding light. When it finally cleared they saw they were trapped inside a glowing purple box. "This is special time box. All those trapped inside cannot use any magic and they can't communicate with the outside world." Toki walked around the box Loki was in and was moving closer to Lucy and Ryu, ignoring all the glares he was receiving from everyone. "So you see it doesn't matter how many spirits you summon or how many of your friends show up, I will still win against them all."

Lucy bit her lip, her eyes never leaving Toki and her grip on Ryu tightening with every step he took. "I don't care. I won't give you Ryu. If you even want to try and touch him you'll have to kill me first." she didn't care what kind of powers he had, she would not stop fighting until her very last breath left her body and even then she still would fight.

Toki scoffed, "As if I'll do that." he looked at Lucy as if she had grown two heads. "In order for the child to be alive I need both parents to be alive to conceive him so that I can steal his powers. I have no need for the others however." he raised his hand, ready to attack.

"Well in that case it sounds like we came here at the right time."

Everyone looked up and saw Master Makarov, Mirajane, Elfman, Lisanna, and Cana all standing above them on the roof. Their gazes were hard and serious and all were looking down at Toki. They had come here to fight and defend their friends. "If you think we'll just stand by and do nothing while you hurt our Guild you must be even dumber than I thought," Makarov said, crossing his arms and grinned. "I don't know anything about you but I think there is something very important that you should know about us."

Toki raised in an eyebrow in interest. "Oh? And what might that be?"

Makarov grinned widen. "We are Fairy Tail Wizards and that means we don't ever give up!" At his words everyone jumped off the roof, Elfman and Mirajane in standing in front of Toki while Cana and Lisanna stood in front of Lucy to protect her and Ryu.

"You guys..." Lucy smiled happily, glad to see all her friends had come.

"Did you really think we would actually do nothing while this guy hunted down our friends?" Cana grinned, taking out a hand full of her cards and prepared herself.

"You heard the Master, Lucy. We are Fairy Tail so that means we don't give up." Lisanna spoke next. "Besides there's no way I'm letting this guy get away with this. I called the title of godmother and I'm letting him hurt my godson!" he eyes burned with determination.

"Hey that's not fair, Lisanna! I was gonna ask Lucy to be the godmother!" Levy cried out, trying even harder to move so she could defend the title that she wanted.

"Um...guys? Is there something more important that we should be focusing on?" Lucy tried to get their focus back on their enemy but it was a lost cause. The two girls were determined to be crowned the title they wanted.

"This is important!" they both cried back.

"Knock it off you two." Cana gave a soft sigh and Lucy smiled at her friend. At least someone was thinking about the importance of the battle and the enemy they were facing. "If anyone is going to be the child's godmother it'll be me." Lucy nearly fell over in shock at her friend's words.

_"Why is everyone in our guild so crazy!" _Lucy suddenly wanted to cry.

"Useless." Toki merely rolled his eyes at everyone's behavior.

Elfman scoffed at his words. "You won't be saying that after I get done with you!" he ran at him, his arm transformed for battle.

"I don't think so." Toki snapped his fingers and suddenly just like the others Elfman and Mirajane were trapped inside the purple box. "And now for the rest of you."

"Everyone move!" Lucy warned them just ask Toki tried trapping Cana and Lisanna as well.

"You two are fast but you can't keep this up forever." he simply said, readying himself for another attack.

_"He's right." _Lucy felt like screaming. She never felt so useless before in her life. This man was trying to steal her son and she couldn't do a single thing about it. _"I can't just stand here and watch everyone fight. I need to fight too." _with her mind already made up she handed Ryu and Lucky over to Lisanna. "Please watch them for me."

"What are you going to do?" Lisanna asked, worried about what she might be planning.

"I am going to fight and protect my family." Lucy took hold of her whip and readied herself. "Lisanna, Cana, I want the both of you to take Ryu and run."

"But what about you?" She questioned, worrying over her friend's wellbeing. It just didn't feel right to run away and leave Lucy to fight this guy by herself.

"I'll be fine," Lucy would not back down from this fight. "He won't hurt me. He knows he can't, so I'll hold him off while the rest of you go back to the Guild and get Ryu back home." She knew that was the only way to keep him safe. "I'm betting the reason Toki brought Ryu back to this time period was because he isn't strong enough to beat us in the future so he came to the past to fight us when we're much weaker."

"So you figured me out?" Toki seemed almost impressed. "I see you're just as clever as you are in the future. Even so that still won't help you. I will still take that child's power for myself!" he raised both hands, aiming his next attack at Lisanna and Cana to blast them both away so he could get what he was after.

Lucy acted before he could attack. She used her whip to bind his hands together so that he couldn't use anymore of his magic. "Keep your hands off of my son!" she cried out, arms shaking to keep her hold on Toki tight so that he wouldn't be able to escape. "If you think I'll let you put even one finger on him you've got another thing coming!" with all her strength she threw Toki up in the air and sent him flying back down, face hitting the concrete first.

"Way to go Lu-Chan!" Levy cheered, wishing her body was freeze already so that she could hug her best friend.

"That's amazing." Lisanna gasped in shock, a wide smile on her face.

"Impressive." Cana nodded in agreement.

"Mama is the best!" Ryu and Lucky both cheered, jumping out of Lisanna's arms and running towards Lucy. "Mama you did it. You beat him." they jumped up and down."

Lucy smiled down at both boys. "Yeah, I guess I did." she bent down to give them both pats on the heads. It was strange but she was really looking forward to seeing these two in the future.

"Woman...!" instantly Lucy wrapped her arms around Ryu and Lucky and gasped when she saw Toki standing back up on his feet. One hand was holding his bleeding nose that was obviously broken and he had scratches and cuts all over his face and arms. A look of pure rage was easily seen on his face. "You'll pay for that. I don't care if you are the boy's mother, I'll make you regret ever doing that!" he fired two giant purple blasts of magic at Lucy.

"Lu-Chan!"

"Get outta there!"

"Move!"

"Run away!"

Lucy could hear the cries of her friends but she couldn't get her legs to move. They were frozen in place. All she could do was turn her back to the blast and pray that Ryu and Lucky didn't get hit by it.

"Lucy!"

They blast came but it never hit her. Instead a ball of fire was thrown at it, causing the blast to die out before it could reach them. "You've got some nerve attacking my family like that, Toki." a deep voice could be heard from the smoke and the voice sounded strangely familiar to all Fairy Tail members.

"No...it can't be..." Toki gulped, backing away in fear as the smoke cleared and revealed who had stopped the blast. "Dragneel!" he gasped in horror and fell to the ground.

"It's Natsu!" Lucy gasped next, her eyes widen in amazement as she looked on at the Natsu in front of her. He still had pink hair that was as spiky as ever. The scarf was wrapped around his next and his jacket was the same colors as his vest, but it was long, almost like a trench coat. The sleeves running down all the way to his wrist that had two wide black wristbands on them. He had white pants with black trimmings on the sides and black boots on his feet. To Lucy he seemed more grownup in her appearance and for some reason seeing this made her face heat up.

"W-What are you doing here?" Toki asked, trying to cover up his fear but failing. "H-How could you-?"

"You aren't the only one who knows where to find time crystals." Natsu of the future said, showing him a light blue crystal in his right hand.

"Aye sir!" Suddenly Happy appeared floating next to him, his fur seemed to have become a darker blue and he looked a bit bigger. His wings seemed to have grown as well.

"Time crystal?" Lucy wondered out loud, never once hearing of such a thing before.

"It's a rare type of crystal that allows whoever hold it to travel to whatever time period they wish." Makarov came to stand beside her. "Although they are very dangerous and if used to much they can cause ripples in the space time continuum. If you even want to dream of using them you'll need the entire magical councils approval."

"They're really that powerful?" Lucy questioned, not really believing how one tiny crystal could have so much power inside it. "Amazing." her eyes traveled back to the future Natsu, waiting to see what attack he would use.

"So what!" Toki jumped to his feet, trying to hand the fact that his entire body was shaking. "I don't care if you came back in time. I will still take that brat's power for myself!" he cried, trying to sound brave but failing horribly.

His words only angered Natsu, making him growl. "Don't you dare threaten my son!" his right fist was engulfed in a giant flame, glowing brighter than ever before. "Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!" with one punch it sent Toki flying into a nearby building, knocking him out cold.

"He beat him!" Lisanna gasped in amazement. "And with just one hit." she added, her eyes sparkling.

"Looks like he's gotten stronger in the future." Cana agreed, taking a quick sip of the container of alcohol that she had on her.

Gajeel merely scoffed. "So what. I can still beat his ass."

Levy could only giggle. "Is that really all you care about?"

"Papa!" Ryu smiled wildly at the sight of his father. He jumped out of Lucy's arms and with the help of Lucky flew into his father's arms.

"Ryu," Natsu caught his son easily and ruffled his hair, an smile on his face as well. "It's good to see that you're alright."

Ryu nodded. "Mama took care of me so I wasn't scared."

"This mama smells strange, papa." Lucky said to Happy, his small wings flapping wildly. "How come she does smell like this papa?" he asked, pointing to Natsu.

"That's cause she doesn't bathe properly." Happy of the future said with a sneaky grin.

"I do so bathe properly! Don't go spreading rumors like that you stupid cat!" Lucy cried, not wanting her friends to believe that she doesn't bathe and stinks.

Natsu couldn't help but laugh. "Well I'm just glad that I made it in time."

"Yes, I believe we all are." Makarov step forward and looked up at one of his children future self. "But I can't help but wonder how you managed to convince the council to allow you to use the time crystals. They're extremely strict about them."

Natsu shrugged, "Well they didn't original want me using them but they wanted this Toki guy gone so they agreed to let me use them if I brought him back with me," he explained with a small frown. "I would have been here sooner but I had to make sure that Lucy wouldn't use her powers, and let me tell you taking her keys wasn't easy." he grinned proudly, showing everyone a set of gold and silver keys.

Lucy gasped in horror. "You stole my keys?" she was so going to get him for this. She hoped her future self would give him a good beating for taking her keys.

"It's not like I had a choice. Lucy wanted to use her powers to send me back in time but with the baby I didn't think it was a good idea so I had to take them." he explained but Lucy was still upset. She was still tempted to slap him right here and now just in case her future self didn't.

"It makes sense," Makarov explained, hoping his words would calm Lucy down. "When a woman is pregnant her magic is used to protect the baby and when used it puts a dangerous strain on both the child's and the parent." He sent Lucy a look that said she shouldn't be mad.

"So what are we going to do about this guy?" Cana asked, dragging the unconscious body of Toki next to them.

"Well I promised I would take him back to the council so I guess I gotta." Natsu explained and pulled out another small light blue crystal. "Well I'll see you guys later." with that said he broke the crystal in his hand and in an instant he, Ryu, Happy, Lucky, and Toki were all engulfed in its light.

"Bye Mama!" Ryu waved to his mother before disappearing with his father and heading back to his own time.

"Bye." Lucy waved back slowly, her eyes becoming glossy with tears. She felt a little sad that he was gone and she wished to see him again. _"Who knows. Maybe I'll see him sooner than I think." _with that thought brought a happy smile to her face.

"Hey I can move again!" Levy happily cheered, glad that she could move her body once more.

"So boring. I didn't even get a chance to hit anything." Gajeel frowned, his arms crossed over his chest.

"Just be glad it all ended quickly." Lily told him.

"Yes, we should all be glad," Levy added in before turning her gaze onto Lisanna and Cana. "Besides we have much more important matters to discuss."

Cana raised an eyebrow. "Such as?"

"The subject of who will be the boy's godmother." Levy reminded them.

"It's obvious it'll be me." Lisanna said.

"I think you mean me." Cana added.

"I'm her best friend so it'll be me." Levy cried.

"Now everyone, calm down." With Toki finally gone everyone sealed inside the purple time trap spell was free. Mira came to join her sister and two girls. "There really is no reason to fight over this." She said with a sweet smile and put her arm around Lucy's shoulder. "Because if anyone is going to be the child's godmother it will be me."

"No fair!" the three girls cried out and Lucy groaned.

"Can this get any weirder?" Lucy wondered out loud.

"L-Lucy...?" everyone turned around to see a shocked Gray, Erza, Wendy, Juvia, Charle, and Happy.

"Is something wrong?" Lucy asked them, wondering is being inside the time box had caused them any damage.

"M-M-M...?" Their mouths were moving but no words were coming out.

"What?" she didn't understand what they were trying to say.

"Mama!" they finally cried out and it caused Lucy to freeze in shock and let out a cry of her own.

"How did you know?" she was shaking, her eyes bugging out of her head and inside her mind she was planning her escape route.

"We heard it all inside that stupid box!" Gray was the first to reply.

"What?" Lucy gasped. "But Toki said all those inside the box couldn't communicate with the outside world."

"Well he was right," Loki walked up next to her with Elfman right behind him. "No matter how loud we yelled none of you could hear us but we were able to hear every word that you said." he told her and grinned when he saw his master's face become a bright red.

"You heard everything...?" Lucy felt like her face was burning as her mind brought up what she said to Toki. _**"Keep your hands off of my son!" **_she nearly cried out loud when that sentence popped into her head.

"You and Natsu are parents?" Happy felt like his head was spinning.

"This is certainly an unexpected turn of events." Charle said, her paws on both her hips and trying to act like none of this bothered her when in reality she was just as surprised and confused as everyone else.

"I must say this very surprising," Erza crossed her arms and nodded, a look of determination on her face. "Do not fear Lucy, we will not abandon you in your time of need."

"You make it sound like I'm cursed!" Lucy yelled.

"Lucy," Juvia came next, taking both her hands in hers. "Juvia would like to congratulate you on your union and Juvia now knows you are not after her Gray-sama so Juvia would like to become the best of friends."

"But I'm not pregnant now." Lucy told them before they all went out to buy baby clothes.

"At least not now," Cana grinned, taking another sip of her drink. "But in about nine years you'll be hearing the exact same things."

"That's not making me feel better!" Lucy said right back, her cheeks burning at her friend's words.

"This is just so weird," Gray sighed, running a hand through his hair. "You've been pretty quite this whole time. You haven't told us what you think of this." they all looked to see Natsu staring at Lucy, an unreadable expression on his face. His arms were crossed and his eyes never left her, making her cheeks turn an even darker shade of red and her heart started to beat out of control. "Well Natsu?" they urged, wanting to know what he thought of all of this.

"Well what?" he asked, not really understanding what they were asking.

"What do you think of knowing that you and Lucy are married and have kids?" Elfman asked this time, making sure Natsu understood it all.

"Hmm...?" Natsu closed his eyes, taking a moment to think about all of this. "Honestly I'm a little surprised," his eyes reopened and he put one hand on his chin as if he was trying to think even harder. "So in nine years Lucy and I will have our first child?" he looked up to the sky and watched the setting sun. "I thought for sure we would have kids a lot sooner." his last sentence caused everyone to fall down in shock.

"What!" They all cried out, shock written over every one of their faces.

"What do you mean you sooner?" Gray questioned, jumping right in front of Natsu.

"What the hell do you think I mean?" Natsu yelled back, thinking Gray was trying to challenge him.

"Natsu, aren't you even just a little surprised that you and Lucy have kids?" Happy asked, trying to calm his friend down before a fight broke out and they all went home confused.

"No, not really." Natsu replied.

"Well why the hell not?" Gray asked.

"Yeah, we are all." Elfman added.

"It is very shocking." Erza said.

Natsu just stared at them as if they were crazy. "Well why wouldn't I? Lucy and I are partners so of course we would have kids."

His reply didn't help them, everyone was still as confused as before. "Now when you say partners..." Mira tried this time. "What exactly do you mean?"

"He means life partners." Gajeel added in, clearing things up. "The little idiot decided that bunny-girl is his partner in life."

"He did?" Lucy and Levy gasped.

Gajeel nodded. "It's the same with dragons. They chose a life partner or mate and from there they stay by their partners side until death." he explained.

"So when Natsu calls Lucy his partner he doesn't just mean teammate?" Wendy asked the metal dragon user.

"Yeah," Gajeel sighed. "I'm guessing this idiot never explained that to any of you." they all shook their heads, saying this was the first they heard of it.

"But wait, don't you call Happy you're partner?" Loki questioned, pointing to the blue flying cat.

"Well yeah. Happy is my best friend and teammate so why wouldn't I call him my partner?" Natsu looked at Loki like he was stupid.

"Ok let's get this straight," Gray clenched his fist, not happy that the fire user was giving him such a headache. "You consider Happy your partner but that partnership is a different one than what you think of Lucy?"

Natsu nodded. "Yep."

Gray took in a deep breath. "Do you realize how stupid that is?" he yelled.

"What did you say, Gray!" Natsu made his hands into fists and was ready to knock the shirtless guy out.

"Knock it off!" Erza yelled at them, making them freeze up in fear.

"I swear that guy's an even bigger idiot than I thought," Gajeel sighed once more. "Did you even tell bunny-girl that you wanted her as your partner?" he asked, not really sure if he wanted to know the answer.

Natsu frowned but nodded. "Of course I did. I told Lucy that I wanted her as my partner and she accepted right away."

Lucy nearly fell over at his words. "I thought you were asking me to be your partner on your team, not your wife!" she could feel a giant headache forming.

Natsu shrugged. "Too late now. Once a partner is chosen and accepts there's no taking it back." he gave her a wide grin that had her and everyone else sweat drop.

"Is that why you're always breaking into my house and sleeping in my bed?" Lucy asked weakly.

"Yep," Natsu nodded. "Because partner are supposed to be together all the time."

"And you didn't think to explain any of this to me when I was kicking you out?" She asked him.

He just shrugged. "I just figured you weren't ready yet."

"Ready for what?" she wasn't so sure she wanted to know what he would say.

"To make babies." his reply made Lucy want to smack him across the face. Levy and Lisanna had to hold her back to keep her hands from smacking that stupid grin off his face.

"Oh well, no use in arguing about it now," Natsu threw an arm around Lucy's shoulders and started to drag her away from the group. "Since you finally understand everything let's go back to your house and get started."

"On what?" she asked weakly, her heart suddenly beating faster for fear of what his reply would be.

"On making babies," his words turned her to stone. "I don't really feel like waiting nine years and now that you know everything we can finally start making our family." Lucy could feel her anger rising and before she could stop herself and punched him right in the face, making him go flying.

"I'm not becoming a teenage mother!" she cried, running back to her friend and hoping one of them could help her before she ended up pregnant at age seventeen.

"Ow." Natsu held his bruised cheek. "Lucy what was that for? Partners are supposed to mate together. That's what Igneel told me."

"I'm not doing that with you unless there's a ring on this finger." she said, pointing to her left ring finger.

Natsu blinked twice before reaching into his pocket and pulling out a pink diamond ring. "You mean like this?" Lucy gasped and finally fell over from shock. She wasn't sure how much more she could take.

"Natsu, what are you doing with that?" Lisanna asked.

"Well one day I saw this guy give a girl a ring like this and when I asked Mira about it she said it's what a guy does when he asks his chosen partner to be his mate." he answered simply.

Mirajane couldn't help but giggle weakly. "I didn't exactly say that but I do remember him asking about the ring. Of course I had no idea that he was going to buy one for Lucy."

"This is so weird." Gray felt like his head was going to explode.

"Juvia thinks this is such a romantic time." she was just happy that her love rival was finally out of the picture and she could have Gray all to herself.

"This is truly a man's moment!" Elfman cried out into the open sky.

"My oh my," Makarov couldn't help but smile. "Children sure do grow up fast."

"I think it's time I go back now," Loki kneeled down next to Lucy and took her hand in his. "Don't worry princess I'll be listening if you need me so just call and I'll come protecting you like the prince I am." with that said he disappeared in a flash of light.

"Stupid Loki," Natsu grumbled and sat down in front of Lucy. "He doesn't need to protect you because that my job as your partner." he took her left hand in his and placed the ring he had on her left ring finger. "There now we can get started on making our family."

Lucy just sighed, she was too tired to fight anymore. "How about we wait until we're just a little bit older?" she asked, hoping he would agree. She was in no way ready to take that next big step into adulthood.

Natsu stared at her for a long while before nodding. "Alright, I guess that's fine. But it better not be nine years." he added, giving her a long frown and looking into her eyes.

She just nodded. "Fine." she would agree to his demand and not wait nine years to have children but that didn't mean she wouldn't take things slow.

"Promise?" he asked.

"I promised." she agreed.

"Good," he grabbed her hand in his and brought them both up to stand before running off. "Now let's head to the Guild and celebrate!" he called out and before long everyone ran after them, all cheering and laughing.

* * *

><p><em>Nine Years Later<em>

"You said it wouldn't be nine years!" Natsu pouted, his arms and legged crossed as he sat on the bed next to Lucy. She was four months pregnant and was showing a baby bump in her green maternity dress.

"Well how was I supposed to know that we would be suspended in time for seven years?" Lucy replied, both her hands were placed over her stomach. "It took us two years to get the Guild back under control and beat Zeref, I had no clue that all that would happen in nine years."

"It's still not fair." Natsu grumbled, putting both his arms around his wife and bringing down onto the bed to lie next to each other. "You broke your promise so you owe me."

Lucy just shook her head and laughed. "Alright, I promise I'll pay you back." she rested her head on his shoulders and took in his natural body heat. "What do you want?"

"Hmm...?" Natsu took his time to think about this. "How about thirty kids?"

Lucy screamed. "That's too much!"

"How so?" Natsu didn't understand.

"Thirty kids would be too expensive and besides you're not the one who's going have to give birth to them. Having that many would probably kill me." she told him, trying to get his mind off the thought of having thirty kids. There was no way she could handle that.

"Fine," he pouted again. "How about ten?"

Lucy just sighed again. "We'll see about that." the thought of ten did make her want to scream but it was better than thirty.

"You're so weird, Lucy." he pulled her body closer to his and kissed her forehead. "I love you."

A smile graced her lips as she happily accepted his embrace. "I love you too."


End file.
